Gender and sexual minorities of State 3 have said they are returning the Nepali citizenship certificates they have obtained earlier with the identity of third gender (other or 'O' category).
During an interaction with representatives of several state-level ministries and government officers in Hetauda on Tuesday, they said they are being discriminated against in the process of issuing the citizenship with the recognition of their specific identity. The program was organized by the Blue Diamond Society, an alliance of third genders.
“The decision was made out of the compulsion, not by will,” they said. Society central chair Pinki Gurung said prior to this, 200 people have received citizenship under the ‘O’ category. But as time passes, the process of acquiring the citizenship for them is becoming more and more complicated.
Some conditions likely to be set by the Federal Parliament to detail about the identity of ‘third gender’ in the citizenship are the manifestations of the State’s narrow mindset towards the issues concerning gender and sexual minorities.
As Gurung claimed, the (new) Civil Code and the Criminal Code have also restricted the rights of the third genders. “The provision seeking the people presenting themselves as third genders to undergo sex change surgery and to provide clinical certificate of undergoing such surgery to obtain the citizenship is likely to be incorporated in the Citizenship Act through the amendment bill by the parliament,” Gurung said.
Chair of Friends Hetauda, the organization working for the causes of third genders, Dear Kiran said people identifying themselves are normal as of the heterosexual people and such identity is a gender/sexual orientation, and the (wrong) perception of the society and people towards them should be corrected. Kiran, a trans-woman, said the third genders deserve equal treatment on every front on a par with other citizens and they are equally capable of contributing to the society and nation.
Another trans-woman Ajita Bhujel shared her ‘ordeals’ that how she was expelled from home and faced lots of problem in the street just for internalizing and displaying different gender identity and expressions from the assigned sex (at birth).
Hetauda sub-metropolis deputy mayor Mina Lama said the sub-metropolis is always positive for the rights of sexual/gender minorities, pledging the official support and cooperation for the economic empowerment of such community.
